It was the privilege of my life to watch the Messi magic

IN the queue for the media entrance at the Lusail Iconic Stadium, a senior colleague and veteran of four previous World Cup finals had a word of advice: “They’re usually bad games.”

- Dan Kilpatrick

Ahem, well, not this one.

Admittedly, for 80 minutes last night’s final between Argentina and France was, if not a bad game then certainly a one-sided one and nobody could have predicted the breathless drama of the climax after Kylian Mbappé dragged the defending champions level with two goals in 97 seconds.

Whatever happened during the 90 minutes, though, this final was always destined to end with one of football’s most compelling stories: either a coronation for Lionel Messi in his final World Cup appearance or further heartbreak for the greatest player of all-time, who had already lost the 2014 final.